Divided Worlds
by CarolineKenello
Summary: Selim Bradley awakens in another world with another name after being killed by his father Führur King Bradley. Now he's a Homunculous, Pride The Arrogant. He spends years serving the man known as Father. But his strange memories of another life in another world trouble him until he decides to find this place he's remembering. But can he find it? And is his name Selim or Pride?
1. Awakening

**Full Summary:** Selim Bradley awakens in another world after being killed by his adopted Father Fuhrer King Bradley. Now he's been told that he's Pride the arrogant, the first homunculus that was created by the man known as Father who strives to be the perfect being, but despite being proud to serve Father over the years his strange troubling memories begin to make him wonder about his life and the strange world he's remembering and the one he's now trapped in. Was Selim or Pride his true name? The only way he could figure it all out would be to find the other world, the one he remembers from before he awoke in this strange different world. Could he even find the world he remembers before here? And which world does he belong in? (Sorry if summary is bad) it will be a long story about Selim from the original being the same Selim from Brotherhood. Since Homunculi can often be born of failed attempts at human transmutation.

 **Here's the first chapter. Writing it has unfortunately been slow, but at least I've got this one chapter ready. Thanks for reading. I hope you like it.**

 **Disclaimer** **: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist it Brotherhood or any of the characters.**

Everything was black. He couldn't see, and could barely feel anything even himself. He couldn't remember what happened or anything, but he could feel a slight confusion and perhaps some fear, but his mind was so hazy and nearly blank that he couldn't quite recall much of anything.

After a few moments he could slightly hear what sounded like...a man speaking perhaps? He wasn't sure.

Suddenly he felt a burst of energy run through him and he was suddenly aware of his rapidly beating heart followed by the rest of his body.

He opened his eyes slowly and glanced down at himself, but suddenly his eyes went hazy and blurs of memories or images passed through his mind rapidly.

The images were of a young boy, around ten years old. He had dark hair and was well dressed, and had a kind expression. There were images of other people too. A lady, and then suddenly a man, and another man, but before he could process it all, a voice spoke yet again. This time he could understand his words.

"Pride," the man with blond hair and golden eyes said.

The boy looked up at the man and then back down at himself. Had the boy he'd seen been himself? He looked very much like that boy. Had the other people been his family?

Suddenly he remembered the man who was speaking to him.

"Pride, can you hear me?" The man asked.

The boy quickly got to his feet a bit shakily.

"Yes." He replied smiling slightly at the man.

"I have successfully removed my prideful arrogance from myself. It is my first step to becoming the perfect being. You are Pride The Arrogant, the first Homunculus." The man said.

The boy thought for a moment and nodded at the man.

"You created me?" He asked, his mind still hazy.

"Yes." The man answered.

The boy thought it over for a moment, glancing down at himself, and then smiled.

"I'm perfect! You created me perfectly...father...!" The boy exclaimed proudly.

The man simply nodded.

"What do you want me to do?" He asked eagerly.

I will do whatever my new father says and I will make him proud of me! The boy thought excitedly, some of the earlier memories beginning to fade away a little.

The man, or Father, as Pride referred to him as, smiled, and stood up from his throne-like chair. "There is much I need you to do for me, Pride." Said Father.

The boy, Pride, smiled and stepped closer to Father as he listened to what the man said.

Years went by, Father slowly created more Homunculi, somehow obtaining or creating bodies and removing his sins from his being and putting them into these other different beings; the Homunculi.

Pride cared little at first for the other Homunculi, his thoughts only on obeying his father's wishes. Pride spent hundreds of years playing family as an adopted son with high ranking military people, pretending to be a normal human child while secretly performing tasks for Father, eventually leading up to his Father's ultimate plan. But it would be years until the Promised Day arrived, so it was going to be a long journey.

One day, Pride walked down into Father's secret lair. He smiled proudly at the fact that he was the first to arrive out of all the Homunculi.

"Hello Father," Pride greeted as he reached the man.

"Pride," Father acknowledged.

But it wasn't long until they were joined by others. First was Lust, closely followed by Gluttony. Then came Envy, and then Sloth.

"Well, looks like even Sloth beat our disgusting hoarder all the way here." Envy remarked.

Sloth's mouth twitched slightly as if he considered making a response, but made no further effort.

"Hoarder?" Gluttony asked looking between Envy and Lust.

"He's talking about Greed, Gluttony." Lust explained

"Oh..." Gluttony responded.

"It seems Greed hasn't shown up much at all recently." Lust stated.

"Be quiet and let Father speak." Pride told them.

"Greed has deserted us." Father said.

"How dare he show such little loyalty..." Pride muttered in disgust.

"How dare that traitor." Lust said.

"Can I eat him?" Gluttony asked.

"No," Envy said. "I want to have the pleasure of throwing him into a concrete wall when we find him!"

"Never mind Greed at the moment." Father said. "I have yet to introduce you all to the newest homunculus. Wrath."

"New homunculus huh? Where is this guy? I don't see anyone new here." Envy said.

"That is because Wrath has already been placed into his assignment." Father explained, then he turned to the oldest homunculus. "Pride?"

"Yes Father?" Pride asked.

"You are in need of a new position among the humans." Father said.

"Yes Father." Pride confirmed. "The last ones were killed a few years back."

"Ah. You will be placed acting along side our new Wrath." Father said.

"Yes father." Pride answered smiling.

This new Wrath better not be as pathetic as Greed. Pride thought bitterly, still angry with how Greed could act with such disloyalty. Sometimes he thought Father really needed better tools than what he seemed to end up with.

"So you want me to just play human family with Wrath and whatever humans are present and await further commands?" Pride asked.

"That is correct." Father said.

Pride smiled and nodded.

"And what of Greed?" He asked.

"In time we shall find him." Father answered. "Now go." Father commanded.

"Yes Father." Pride said as he turned to leave. "Goodbye everyone else." Pride muttered.

"Wow, that's a first." Envy said stepping towards Pride.

"What's a first?" Pride asked.

"You've never said goodbye to us as you've left. I thought you were too _perfect_ to care to speak to any of us unless it's necessary." Envy mocked.

Pride then realized that he hadn't said that before. But Envy had no right to call him out on it.

Shadows moved dangerously around them, a silent threat to the other Homunculous.

"You are in no place to question my actions." Pride said.

But deep down he wondered why in the world he'd bothered to say anything to them. But he didn't care enough to say it was a mistake. It wasn't a mistake. Pride knew that for sure. He never made mistakes. He was Pride The Arrogant, he was created perfectly by father and had no flaws. Therefore he wasn't capable of mistakes. Anyone who said otherwise was likely the one that went and messed up whatever he was doing.

Pride walked through the streets heading for the location Father had told him to go to. He didn't pay much attention to any of the humans around him, he was deep in thought.

He couldn't stand how Greed could just desert them like this. Again. Why did he always have so little loyalty?

Doesn't matter, Pride thought. he'll soon be caught and be punished for his actions. At least I have something important to do to help Father with. Plus this might be the last playing family I'll have to do before the Promised Day arrives. It may only be a matter of years now.

Father will be so proud of me! Pride thought joyfully. He no longer really cared what the other homunculi were up to at the moment or whether they were listening he was just focused on how proud he would make Father be of him. He would do his mission and he would make no mistakes. It would be perfect, no matter what this new Wrath that they'd been too busy for so long to even bother to meet, would be like. Pride smiled as he stepped onto the road crossing as he made his way to his destination.

Lost in thought Pride failed to see the car that was heading right towards him. Suddenly a woman saw what was about to happened and Pride's eyes widened in surprise as someone grabbed him pulling him to the side and shielding him with their body as the car skidded to a abrupt halt, only just stopping in time before it hit him or the lady.

"You're okay." Pride heard the woman holding his tightly say.

Pride stared at her in shock. Sure she had no idea what he was and that he would've just come back to life had he been hit, although it would've been a bit of an inconvenience, not to mention painful. But here was this lowly human risking her own mortal life to save his. And she didn't even know him! Something about this made Pride feel almost...amazed or something. Never had any of the humans he'd met seem like this lady.

The woman led Pride to the side walk.

"Are you alright? I'm Lily Bradley." The woman said searching the boy for injuries.

Bradley? Pride thought, feeling like Father had mentioned the name that Wrath would be using. Pride smiled weakly, still slightly shaken from the near accident.

"I-I'm okay..." Pride stammered still amazed at Lily Bradley's actions.

"Do you have a name? Where are your parents?" Mrs Bradley asked worriedly.

Pride couldn't remember a time in his long life that someone had shown so much concern for him. Quickly he searched his mind for a name to use.

Suddenly weird memories echoed through his mind.

"Happy birthday Selim." A man said.

"Hello father you're home!" A dark haired boy said excitedly.

The man handed the boy a present.

"Thank you father!" He boy said smiling happily. "Can I open it now?" He asked.

"Of course you may. It's not everyday my only son turns ten." He man with black hair and an eye patch said.

The boy smiled shyly at the man who smiled back proudly, and then he opened the gift revealing a toy train set.

"Wow! Thank you Father." The boy said smiling but blushing slightly.

The boy turned and glanced slightly at a lady, and the memory faded away.

"Little one?" Mrs. Bradley repeated. "What's your name?"

"Selim." Pride replied, relieved that he managed to keep his voice relatively steady considering he was still a bit shaken, and these memories.

Pride followed Mrs Bradley to wherever she was taking him now. His amazement was something he'd never felt for a human before, and it both confused and fascinated him. But the lady... He had never known her...yet She was identical to the other lady in his strange memories.

Pride sighed lightly; he had hoped over the hundreds of years he'd lived through with Father and the other homunculi that the strange memories and thoughts he'd had when he was created would lessen or disappear. If anything, they seemed to happen more often now.

Pride wondered if he should ask Father about them, but quickly shoved such ridiculous ideas away. Whatever it was couldn't be a problem, because Father was the perfect being, and had created Pride. Surely Father wouldn't have made Pride imperfect and with flaws like the other Homunculi.

Whatever the memories were weren't a problem. They just became...a little distracting at times. But really, it was hardly a problem. At least not yet. Pride figured he'd just have to ignore them.

Mrs Bradley turned to Pride. "Selim, I am going to take you home with me alright?" She asked.

Pride nodded smiling slightly.

When they arrived Pride smiled. Judging by the giant house, it was exactly the kind of place Father wanted him to go to. Which meant Wrath was probably in there, right?

Mrs Bradley took Pride's hand and walked him to the front door, smiled down at him for a moment and they walked inside.

Perfect, Pride thought happily. At this rate there will be no problem getting into the place and trying to come up with a way to get "taken in" or "adopted" seemed the near car accident and Mrs Bradley had taken care of it for him. Not that it was their accomplishments. Pride knew he'd done well this time. It took a lot to act as a scared child and make it all believable. He doubted the other Homunculi could ever be as good if they'd tried to as he was. Even Envy, who could turn into a child if he wanted, but he'd never even be able to be compared to Pride's ability to do it; Envy would slip up and make a mistake. Pride had done this for decades and he hadn't slipped up once.

Sure the car thing wasn't the original plan, but Pride knew anything he did would work out in some way and become perfect. Unless someone dared to ruin it. He would make sure that no one would ever mess up Father's plans.

"I'm home!" Mrs Bradley called.

Pride heard someone, a man, welcome her home, followed by the sound of footsteps approaching them.

Pride straightened and brushed the dirt from his clothes the best he could, deciding his shaky fear from the accident could be dropped a bit now.

But when the figure walked into the foyer, Pride's eyes widened and he felt a strange feeling wash over him that he'd rarely ever felt before, and never once to this extent.

Pride, or Selim, began to tremble slightly, as he felt the wave of terror sweep through him.

He tried as hard as he could to shove it away, there was nothing to be afraid of, this was just a man, probably just Wrath.

But suddenly bits of memories flashed through his mind.

A car stopped, a dark haired boy exited the vehicle running as fast as he could. He ran until he reached a large house, that was strangely familiar looking. He ran into a room pulling out a key and unlocking a safe hidden on a bookshelf.

The boy opened the safe, pulling out a cloth bag, and hurried out of the room.

The boy thought he heard his Father's voice from downstairs.

He hurries to the basement staircase, rushing there sort of timidly. He arrives seeing a man with black hair fighting his father. Both his father and the man appeared to be with the military, his father was the Fuhrer. So why was this man attacking him?

The boy stepped forward.

"F-father?" The boy started nervously.

"Selim. What are you doing here?" The Fuhrer demanded after injuring the other man that fell to the ground.

"If humans are so inferior, than how do you explain loving him?" The injured man asked.

"Well with all the talk of danger going on, I wanted to make sure you were okay. And to get this. You said your life depended on it, so I had to come make sure it was still safe." The boy, Selim explained, lifting the sack that contained his father's "secret treasure" and smiling shyly at the Fuhrer, strangely not seeming to notice the injured man on the floor.

"Selim..." The Fuhrer started, seeming strangely angry. "What have you done?"

"I-" Selim started to reply, but the man stepped forward aggressively putting his hands around the boys neck.

"Father...?" The boy rasped, "Please...!"

The boy begged as the man was suffocating the boy. Then the injured man got up. But the boy seemed to pass out from lack of oxygen.

The memories ended there, as Pride struggled to understand what is was.

He could see the Mrs Bradley and King Bradley, who looked identical to the man that was killing his adopted son, were speaking to each other. Pride managed to catch enough to know that they'd just agreed to taking him in and adopting him.

"Does that sound good to you Selim?" Lily Bradley asked the boy.

"Y-yes." Pride stammered.

He's going to kill me! Pride's strangely terrified mind screamed. Pride tried to force it calm again, he should not be feeling any of this!

But his attempts did little use. He was completely freaking out.

Mrs Bradley seemed to notice the boy's fear to some extent, because she placed a hand on his shoulder and began speaking to the man about how he'd almost been hit by a car.

When the two were finished talking, Mrs Bradley took the boy upstairs to a guest room.

"Once you've calmed down a bit we shall go out and buy you some things to make this room more of your own. Something to make it more personalized. Like toys or games or books or something. Would you like that Selim?" Lily Bradley asked the boy who was gazing around the room.

"Uh... Yes. Thank you so much!" Pride managed to force out despite the strange terror he felt only just starting to disappear.

Mrs Bradley smiled and gave the boy a hug.

"I'll be downstairs if you need me. We need to talk about making this adoption official." She said to the boy smiling happily.

Pride smiled back at her, it looked more shy or timid so he forced it to be more brighter and happier, and excited.

"Thank you so much!" He said with as much enthusiasm as he could put into it.

He then excitedly jumped forward and hugged Mrs Bradley back, and then somewhat shyly backed up and sat down on the bed, waving slightly as Mrs Bradley exited the room.

When she was gone, Pride lay back onto the bed, trying to make sense of all the strange things he'd experienced today, mixed in with the strange memory like things he'd always had.


	2. Playing Human

**InsertFunnyName; thanks so much for your awesome review! So happy you enjoyed the first chapter! And thanks for the writing advice! Thanks so much for reading! Hope this next chapter worked out as well as the first one did. Sorry it's taken so long. Also, i like your funny alias.**

 **Samswimmer; Thanks so much for reading and following! I hope this next chapter turned out good enough and worth the wait. I'm really looking forward to when the big adventure parts start up. Probably in the next chapter or so. Thanks for reading and following!**

 **Thanks to everyone else who has read this as well! Thanks! Have a great day!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.**

Chapter 2

After Lily Bradley and King Bradley had taken Selim and made the adoption official, they had to stop to let King Bradley out to go back to work, while the other two would be going to run a few errands before they went back home.

"So I get to call you mother now, right?" Pride, now known as Selim Bradley to the humans, asked for about the third time.

Lily Bradley smiled at the boy.

"Of course. We're a family now. Although I know you're already related to my husband since he was able to learn you're related to someone on his side, but now you're officially ours." She exclaimed happily.

Selim smiled up at her.

"Thank you." He replied gratefully.

"My pleasure." She replied happily.

There was a moment of silence before Pride spoke up again.

"So...where are we going first mother?" He asked, smiling.

Mrs Bradley smiled.

"We're going to do some shopping downtown. I think that would be a good place. Everything is in walking distance and we could get you something else to wear, and perhaps we could get a treat as well." Lily Bradley replied.

"Oh..." He responded calmly. "Thank you mother."

"You're very welcome." Mrs Bradley answered.

Soon enough the driver parked the car near a street for of all sorts of different stores.

"Thank you. We'll be back here in a couple hours." Lily Bradley explained.

"Are you sure you'd like to go alone? I can accompany you and the boy just for extra security." The driver said.

"I'm sure we'll be okay." Mrs Bradley replied smiling.

"Are you sure? I could just stand by when you two go into the stores and I could watch for anything suspicious?" The driver insisted.

Pride watched as Lily Bradley hesitated and considered their driver's offer, until she finally gave in.

"Oh, all right. If you insist. I suppose it would make me feel more comfortable with Selim here." Lily Bradley replied.

"Okay then." The driver said brightly as he grabbed his things and followed the two Bradley's across the sidewalk, keeping a slight distance from them so they could talk without being constantly under surveillance.

"Why is the driver following us, mother?" Pride asked curiously as a part of his pretending to be a normal child act.

He already knew the reason.

"It's just to make sure we're safe. Since your father is...well, you know. So he's just here to help out and make sure things go well. Nothing to worry about though." Mrs Bradley replied, putting her arm around the boy's shoulder.

"Oh...I get it." Pride/Selim answered nodding. "So which store first?"! The boy asked enthusiastically.

Lily Bradley chuckled and led the boy up to their first stop.

Selim/Pride looked up at the sign. The building was some kind of fancier type of clothes store.

"You could use something a bit nicer and less worn out. Not to mention something more to change into." Lily explained as the two and their body guard walked into the store.

They wandered the aisles a bit, until Mrs Bradley found the right sections that had all sorts of things that were closer to Selim's size.

After Mrs Bradley got Selim to try a few different things on that didn't work, she held up a small green suit.

"What do you think of this one?" She asked holding it out to the homunculous.

Selim opened his mouth hesitantly.

Mrs Bradley smiled gently holding it out to the child for him to take and try on.

Selim's eyes widened slightly.

It wasn't that he didn't _like_ it. Because in all honesty, he _did_ like it.

But besides the pants it came with, it was _identical_ to the suit the boy, in which he believed looked like it had been him, had worn. That same boy that was murdered by the man that looked identical to Wrath.

Selim shrugged and shook his head, his eyes scanning the shelf for something else.

"How about the blue one mother?" Selim asked, pointing to one almost the same except that it was a blue colour.

"Well that ones nice." Mrs Bradley said as she took the child-sized suit down from the rack to inspect it.

Then she held it up to Selim. Selim smiled and nodded.

"Okay, go try it on and see if it fits." Mrs Bradley said.

"Yes mother." Selim replied taking the suit and headed to the changing stalls.

 _Why in the world do I have these strange memories of being killed by that man that looked like Wrath?_ Selim thought as he closed the stall and started changing. I can't go around in that other one if it always make me think about Wrath-or whoever it was suffocating me, and actually winning? Wrath would never stand a chance against _me_. _Even if that boy was me, I wouldn't just stand there begging for my life. I'd show that man just how powerful I am._

"Oh, hey Mrs Bradley. What brings you to this section?" A man dressed in a blue military uniform asked.

Pride listened carefully as he continued to dress.

"Oh, hello. I'm picking up some things for my adopted son." Mrs Bradley replied.

"Well that's pretty great! Don't believe I've met him. I myself am here to pick up something nice for my beautiful wife Gracia! Here she is. She's so amazing!" The military man exclaimed shoving a photo at Mrs Bradley.

"Thats nice." Lily responded politely.

"She's amazing! She's so kind and an amazing cook and so wonderful to be around!" The man beamed proudly.

Selim finally finished changing and emerged from the changing area to show Mrs Bradley the clothes.

"Oh, Selim." Mrs Bradley said turning to the boy. "That looks great!" She decided smiling, then she turned to the military man. "This is King Bradley's and my new adopted son, Selim." Mrs Bradley introduced proudly.

The man in glasses and a blue military uniform turned to Selim.

"Nice to meet you Selim. I'm Maes Hughes. I believe I work under your father." The man said.

"Nice to meet you too." Selim replied politely.

"Want to see something?" Maes Hughes asked eagerly.

Selim nodded casually.

"This is a picture of my wonderful wife Gracia!" Maes exclaimed holding up a photo to show the boy.

Selim smiled shyly.

"That's nice..." Selim started quietly. "I bet she's really nice." He added smiling at the man.

"Oh she is." Maes Hughes agreed, glancing between Selim and Mrs Bradley. "I'd tell you some awesome stories of all the things we've done together or how we met but it looks like you two are pretty busy today." Maes said.

"We are." Mrs Bradley agreed.

"Well in that case, I should leave you two to your shopping. Good luck, and congratulations adopting your new son." Maes said as he saluted Mrs Bradley.

"Thank you." Mrs Bradley replied.

"See you around again sometime I suppose." Maes said to Selim.

"Bye!" Selim called as the man walked away.

Maes Hughes walked away and headed out of the store, eventually bumping into Roy.

"You have some time or are you too busy pushing photos of your wife on shoppers?" Roy Mustang asked.

"I have time." Maes replied seriously. "Whats up?"

"Quite a bit actually." Roy answered. "Want to grab some lunch?" Roy asked.

"Sure!" Maes replied. "And on the way, I can show you some pictures of my wonderful wife Gracia!" Maes exclaimed pulling out his photos. "Isn't she amazing?" He exclaimed.

"He was friendly, don't you think?" Mrs Bradley asked. "Possibly a little too friendly...but he seemed nice."

"Sure. Kind of strange. But I suppose you're right." Selim replied shrugging.

"I think that blue suit you chose is really nice." Lily said.

"Yeah. It's good. I'm going to wear the shorts with it instead of the pants though. Okay?" Selim explained.

"Sure. That's alright." Lily replied with a small laugh.

"Where next?" Selim asked.

"I was thinking the toy store?" Lily suggested.

Selim smiled brightly.

"Sure! Sounds so fun!" Selim replied taking Mrs Bradley's hand as they walked along the sidewalk.

Mrs Bradley smiled happily as she and Selim walked through the busy town, she glanced behind her, and saw their guard was still following behind them. Catching her glance, the man looked at her and gave a slight nod with a small smile. She smiled back and then turned to her new son.

"How're you doing? You getting comfortable with us and everything?" She asked.

Pride considered whether to respond with excitement or as polite as possible first. He mixed the two.

"Of course!" He exclaimed his hands up in fists as he jumped excitedly. "This has already been so great! I don't really mind the..." He started, and then leaned to whisper in Lily's ear. "I don't really mind our driver following us either. It's a little different but it means we can be really safe while we have tons of fun! I'll get used to it all okay, don't worry." Selim reassured her happily.

 _I've only done this hundreds of times before anyway_. Pride thought silently recalling when he'd been doing mostly the same thing but with other family's that were no longer even still alive since it had been so long ago.

"Alright, here we are. Go ahead." Mrs Bradley said as she opened the door to let Selim into the toy store first.

Selim nodded and thanked Lily as he walked into the little toy shop.

There were all sorts of different toys; stuffed animals, dolls, blocks, balls, cards and board games, toy vehicles...all sorts of different toys.

Selim walked through the store with Mrs Bradley as the two browsed around the shop.

Suddenly Selim found himself stopping to stare at a toy on display. It reminded him of the strange memories that he usually managed to keep out of his head.

It was a train set. Identical to the one he had memories of a boy, of whom he believed was himself, had received for his tenth birthday.

Selim stared at the toy train his mind going through all the strange memories again. But he gritted his teeth in frustration.

He didn't know what all the memories were, and he was _Pride_ , the _first_ homunculus, he hated the feeling of confusion and the utter lack of understanding or knowing what it was he was always remembering when he saw anything that reminded him, or when he was in Wrath's presence. Something about Wrath made his physical being, his _container_ feel terrified and panicked...and he almost hated Wrath for it.

He was also the only one who knew of this as far as he was concerned. He'd never told Father because he couldn't believe that he could have any sort of errors. Father didn't make errors. Father created perfection. Father always had created perfection to what he was in need of. Pride was perfect, there couldn't possibly be _anything_ wrong with him.

And yet...he _still_ didn't understand why he had these troubling memories. No one else seemed to have this problem, did they?

He was frustrated with all of it.

"That's a pretty cool train set, isn't it?" Mrs Bradley said catching the homunculus's stare.

Selim/Pride forced the frustration away as much as he could and smiled shyly at Lily, as he decided whether to say he liked it or that he didn't.

In all he thought it did look somewhat nice, but he also disliked it for the confusion and uncertainty the sight of it drove into him.

"Yeah." Selim replied quietly last second before she would've questioned his silence.

Because honestly, it _was_ pretty cool and he was supposed to be playing the role of a human child.

"Would you like that one?" Lily asked him.

Selim blushed shyly.

"It's kind of expensive." Selim told her, shrugging and shaking his head no.

Lily Bradley smiled and hugged him slightly.

"That isn't an issue." She said kindly. "Besides, you need something to play with."

Selim smiled at her as she picked up the box and handed it to him. He took it, making sure he looked as grateful as possible, despite how he hated how the thing reminded him of the strange memories he was stuck with.

"Thanks so much!" Selim exclaimed.

"No problem. It's really not a problem Selim." Lily Bradley assured him.

"Thank you so much mother!" Selim exclaimed as she paid for the basket of a few different toys they'd picked out and chosen for Selim.

Mrs Bradley smiled and they left the toy store heading out to buy a treat before they headed home.

As they walked Selim glanced into a window of a pet store, seeing that there were a few animals loose in the store that you could give attention to.

"Come on, lets go inside of there and see the animals." Lily said, taking the homunculus's hand and led him into the pet store.

"They all look so cute." Selim told her as they wandered the shop.

Selim petted a cat that was sitting on a cat post near the back of the store, scratching the orange cat's fluffy head.

Selim smiled and after a few moments he continued on through the store. He smiled and laughed slightly as the cat meowed from behind him not wanting him to leave yet.

Next they reached a little pen with an energetic puppy.

"You can probably go in if you'd like?" Lily suggested when Selim stood outside the pen reaching to pet the puppy.

"That's okay." Selim chuckled as the puppy jumped up and licked his hands. "He or she's so hyper anyway."

"That's true." Lily agreed.

They continued visiting all the different animals in each area.

"Have you ever had pets around before you came with us?" Mrs Bradley asked.

"Yeah." Selim replied. "A long time ago."

 _A very long time ago_. Selim/Pride thought, remembering the times when he'd played human child in other high military families that sometimes had, had pets.

"Well, you ready to go?" Lily asked after they'd spent about half an hour at the pet store.

"Yeah, sure. Thanks for taking me." Selim replied happily.

Lily pulled the homunculus into a tight hug, and then they started out of the pet store.

"Anywhere else mother?" Selim asked.

"That's going to be a surprise." Lily answered with a smile.

Selim smiled back, and followed her to wherever she was planning on taking them.

But suddenly he noticed a man that he'd seen in the store that had been eyeing him as he petted the kittens watching them from far away.

Something about the man seemed...familiar...

Pride didn't see any reason to let the humans know that he'd noticed this. He figured whatever the reason for that man to be watching them was not going to be an issue.

Pride simply smiled brightly at the man, whose expression seemed to turn angry.

 _I knew it_. Pride thought.

"Here we are." Mrs Bradley said covering the boy's eyes with her hand and led him into a building.

The building was somewhat busy sounding but mostly normal, and it felt pretty cold.

"Sit here and keep your eyes closed." Lily said.

"Okay." Selim answered, although he was curious as to what the surprise was, he was more curious as to whether his guess about the man was correct, which he was certain it was.

He waited somewhat uncomfortably for Mrs Bradley to return, although he felt like their body guard want standing far from him so he relaxed a bit.

But he still wondered why the man was there watching him? _Was he being a snoop or was he sent here?_

After a few minutes he heard footsteps approaching him, and something be set down on the table in front of him. He kept his eyes closed.

"Okay." He heard Lily say as she sat down across from him. "Open your eyes, Selim."

Pride opened his eyes and sat a delicious looking ice cream sundae on the table in front of him with Lily who had another across from him.

"Yum!" Selim exclaimed. "Thanks so much!"

"You're welcome." Mrs Bradley beamed. "You've been so good for all our errands and I thought you deserved it."

Selim smiled proudly and the two started to eat.

Remembering the man watching them outside, Selim turned to the window to try to see if he could spot the man again.

As he suspected the man was standing further away but close enough that he'd be fully capable of watching the two.

 _What a nuisance._ Pride thought irritably, seeing that the man was clearly watching them but made no sign that he was here to get or talk to Pride. _Pathetic Envy._ Pride thought silently. _He must be so jealous that I get to visit the animals and have ice cream and he doesn't_.

But just in case his guess of the 'man' being a jealous Envy was perhaps by the slimmest chance wrong, Selim briefly glanced out the window of the ice cream shop, staring directly into the supposed 'man's' eyes.

The man seemed to scowl at him in response.

 _That wasn't the usual reaction of a kidnapper_.

Pride slowly willed a shadow to rushed past ever so quickly in a threatening looking motion.

 _Surely Envy would notice it._

As he expected, the 'man' didn't react with fear or confusion like he'd expect had the man simply been a human. Instead the man got angry looking and smashed a large garbage can to the ground, startling a few human passerby's.

Pride smiled at the scene, and the 'man' glared at him, but then hurried away.

Selim could just catch a hint of long dark green hair as the man changed as he slipped into an alleyway.

"Never-mind, just some guy kicking over a garbage can. Strange people in this area." Their body guard said to Lily conversationally.

"Yes, I guess so." Lily replied and then turned to Selim. "How's your ice cream?" She asked the homunculus.

"It's awesome! Probably one of the best ice cream sundaes I've ever had." He replied.

And he meant it. Everything about today had gone well to him.

Of course, he knew he'd have a jealous Envy to deal with later most likely. But he didn't care. Envy could get himself ice cream if he wanted. But he didn't and Pride figured if the two did have a fight then he'd have plenty of reasons why he was the one who got the well deserved ice cream, even if they'd accuse him of bragging or boasting perhaps. But he didn't care about what his fellow sins thought. He was the oldest and was doing more work than they were right now.

Pride smiled and continued eating his ice cream with Lily Bradley. For now, his mission seemed very easy. He knew it would become harder, but nothing that he couldn't handle. And after all these years it seemed that this would very possibly be his last pretending to be human mission before the Promised Day arrived, so for now, he was just going to enjoy the perks of the mission.

But this time, Pride found, out of all the humans he'd spent his time around in his long existence, there was something different about this Lily Bradley. Something...he wasn't sure what it was...only that it made him feel...happy? He wasn't sure. But maybe he'd figure everything out someday. Meanwhile he had to be ready for Father's orders and eventually the Promised Day that was finally possibly getting closer. He wondered if by then he would understand his strange memories and the strange feelings he had for the human he would always call 'mother' even though it was just his mission and Mrs Bradley had no idea what he really was. But he supposed that only time would tell.


	3. Reborn

**Sorry it's been so long since I've updated this! Hope this chapter was worth the wait.**

 **Thanks so much for reading!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of its characters.**

Chapter 3

"It's pathetic. You're a disgrace."

The battle had been growing more dangerous for the longest time, even making Pride realize he'd need a knew container right away, but it was Kimblee's words from inside homunculus's container that shattered Pride's confidence.

As his confidence vanished, he was enveloped by fear, terror he had not ever been able to recall ever experiencing before...except...maybe...

"Uh, uh, uh, ah!" Pride cried out as he staggered backwards.

 _H-he'll kill me_! He thought in terror.

'If you think that then you still don't understand Edward Elric.' The voice of Kimblee spoke in his mind.

Edward Elric leapt towards the homunculus, yelling as he clapped his hand together to perform a transmutation.

Pride screamed in terror as he tried to stumble back away from the Fullmetal Alchemist, covering his ears wishing he could shut out Kimblee's voice.

He didn't want to die!

Suddenly the blue light coming from the Alchemist turned red.

Pride uncovered his ears and stopped screaming as the light approached.

Edward was yelling something as he leapt. Pride barely managed to grasp onto a likely guess of what the Fullmetal Alchemist said.

" _Selim_!" Edward shouted, as he turned more red.

At the word Pride felt something inside his container shift. It reminded him of the times when father had first created him. It reminded him of the strange memories he'd possessed from the day he was created that he'd kept secret and shoved as far away from his mind as he could, so he could stop being distracted by them and be able to serve father with perfection, without having to share the secrets of the strange memories he possessed with Father, or anyone else.

But now it seemed all that hard work was coming undone and worse, Edward was going to destroy him!

The red light brightened as Edward reached the Homunculous.

"Impossible! He's turned himself into a philosophers stone, and forcing himself inside me?"! Pride exclaimed.

Edward's outstretched arm grasped the front of Pride's face.

" _Aaaah-ah_! I've caught you, you are mine!" Edward shouted.

 _Stop this!_ Pride thought desperately, when suddenly an image of the family he'd grown so attached to came to his mind.

Lily Bradley and King Bradley.

Playing family. It had been false, a fake family. Him and Wrath had always been pretending. But somehow...Pride couldn't help but realized how much he'd loved doing it...how much he really loved Mrs Bradley. His mom...even though it had been all for Father...he realized in everything he'd done over the years, that the sudden thought of that, and the strange memories that had been reawakened, seemed to matter to him...as if it were the most important part of father's plans...only...it wasn't. At least it wasn't if Father's mind. But it was then that Pride realized out of everything, what really matter the most, not to father, not to the other homunculi, and not to him as trying to make father happy, but as plainly and simply, to Pride himself.

The strange feelings and memories arose inside him, stronger than ever, and they seemed to be protesting as he thought himself Pride.

 _Those memories..._

 _...that boy..._

 _...was..._

"Stop this!" Pride screamed his eyes widening in terror.

... _Selim_...

"Please stop!" Pride screamed desperately, as he realized why couldn't force the image of his false family out of his head...out of everything he could think of while be in such a life or death situation it was Lily Bradley...and...he missed her.

... _Selim Bradley_...

Pride began to scream, crying out wordlessly as Edward did not do as he begged. He suddenly could feel Kimblee's soul leaving. Where, he wasn't sure, but Kimblee seemed to be going farther and farther away...until...he was gone.

 _I miss her! I don't want to die!_

Pride's container fell to the ground, completely ruined. It was destroyed into a pile of dust and his shoe.

With the suddenly loss of his container, Pride's consciousness faded away, just before it was completely lost, the old memories he'd shut away that he'd had since father created him grew stronger and stronger.

As the alchemical reaction was over, Edward brought his raised auto mail fist towards himself. Then slowly he opened the palm to reveal a tiny baby.

"So that's your real body." Edward said softly, as he looked down at the tiny baby in his hand.

Ed slowly bent down and lay the tiny baby down onto his red jacket that was folded neatly and placed over rocky ground. Then the young Alchemist turned to walk away.

"Once this is all over, I'm going to have to apologize to Mrs Bradley." Edward said as he continued further.

Then he stopped, and turned around glancing back to look at the tiny baby.

"You can wait right there, you foolish boy." Edward said.

And with that Edward continued away.

Breathing evenly, his tiny fingers almost in his mouth, Selim no longer felt the strong feelings of Pride and the strong need to do what...the tall blond guy who was sitting in the big chair amongst tons of tubes...there was only one thing he felt like he really wanted.

"Mama..." The reborn Selim murmured. "Mama. Mama."

When everything was dealt with, Edward came back for the tiny reborn Selim Bradley. He went and apologized to Mrs Bradley, figuring he'd fill her in on all the basics. Just so she would understand and be warned ahead of time if Selim started to show any signs of still being a homunculus. He told the whole main idea of what the story was, holding the tiny baby in sight so that Mrs Bradley could see what happened and hopefully reduce her worry. He told her she didn't have to take the reborn Selim if she was worried. But Mrs Bradley nodded, and Edward nodded catching her gaze that was directed to the tiny baby.

Gently, he handed her the tiny reborn Selim.

The few people that knew about Selim having been Pride The Arrogant all seemed to disagree with Mrs Bradley's decision to raise him. Most of them thought the child could regain his powers or turn bad and cause more problems all over again.

But they didn't change Mrs Bradley's mind.

As Selim began to grow up, any of Mrs Bradley's small worry's slowly left. Just to be safe, once the boy was starting to talk, she'd tell him stories of her past, and she'd ask him what he did, encouraging the boy to share a story of his own. Most of the time she didn't get anything.

Time went by and Selim was now two years old and she didn't feel concerned at all.

She was talking with some military men while Selim was playing in the yard. Whenever she glanced at him he was always just playing and usually behaving himself, so she turned back to her company to continue their conversations.

Meanwhile two-year-old Selim was running around the huge yard of the mansion they had been allowed to stay in, despite the passing of Furhur Bradley, who Mrs Bradley now knew to have been a homunculus.

"Wait!" Selim called as the butterfly he was following flew away across the street.

He sighed and walked around the yard wondering what to do next. Selim let out a gasp as he was sure he spotted an animal at the base of a tree.

"Is it gonna be a rabbit, or a cat, or a dog or a-" Selim murmured to himself as he walked and then broke into a run towards the animal he had spotted. "Oh, you're a bird!" Selim said smiling as he bent down to get a closer look. "Oh no!" He cried, seeing a small injuring on the bird's wing.

Gently, Selim lifted the small bird off the ground, the bird started to struggle slightly but calmed down as it knew its wing was too sore to fly with.

"Mama! This little birdie is hurt!" Selim cried as he raced back to his mother who was talking with some people in military uniforms. "Can you please help it?" He begged.

"Oh no!" Mrs Bradley replied as she got out of her chair and knelt down to see the bird. "Have the Butler call the veterinarian." She said.

Selim hurried to find the Butler and ask him to get help for the poor little bird. Before he had completely walked away he heard what sounded like his mom talking about him. Selim didn't glance over his shoulder, but he listened really carefully.

"Everyone protested when I decided to raise him," Mrs Bradley said. "But he's grown so much without giving me reason to worry."

Selim slowly turned his head to where his mother was sitting and talking with the military man who had white hair on both sides of his head but not on the top, and he also had a moustache.

 _Everyone...protested? What's protested mean...? Why would Mama worry_? Selim wondered as he watched them.

He felt more confused when the military man remained silent. But quickly losing interest he hurried towards the Butler.

"Hey!" Selim called.

The Butler approached the boy.

"I won't let him." Selim heard Mrs Bradley say.

But the two year old turned and showed the Butler what the problem was.

"The birdies hurt." He explained.

The Butler been down and carefully reached to take the bird.

"Mama said we have to get the vet." He told the Butler.

"We will do that right away." The butler replied taking the bird from the boy.

"Please make him better!" Selim begged hopefully with his hands clasped together.

Suddenly feeling like someone was looking at him, Selim unclasped his hands as he turned around to look back at his mom and her company. His mom and the military man were now looking at him.

Selim stared back at them, and the military man got up to leave. The man said something and chuckled as he left with the rest of the military people.

"I'll get this little guy to the veterinarian." The Butler said, as he turned to leave.

"Will you tell me how he is when he's getting better?" Selim asked.

"Sure...very well." The butler replied as he took the bird away.

"I hope he's going to be okay..." Selim said worriedly.

"I'm sure he will." The butler assured him. "Either way you did a good job finding him and being gentle with him when you picked him up." The butler replied. "See you later."

Selim smiled at the compliment and waved the Butler goodbye, and then he ran back to tell his mother about it.

"You did it!" Mrs Bradley said happily, reaching for Selim.

Selim ran into her arms and hugged her tightly.

"Yeah!" He replied smiling back at his mom.

"Alright Selim," Mrs Bradley started. "So I don't think we have anymore plans for the rest of today so-"

"Um, hey," said a familiar voice.

"Oh Edward, how are you? And Alphonse, how are you boys?" Mrs Bradley said as the two Elric brothers entered the yard.

"Hi!" Selim called out politely.

"Hi there Selim." Ed replied.

"Hello Selim, how are you and your mother doing?" Alphonse asked as Edward glanced at Mrs Bradley.

"Good! We just helped a little birdie!" Selim replied.

"We're well." Edward replied to Mrs Bradley. "Actually we came by to see how you two were doing before we go." Edward said.

"Oh, that's nice of you both. Where are you two going this time?" Mrs Bradley asked.

"Well Al's going to-" Ed started.

"I'm going to Xing to learn more alchemy." Alphonse interrupted.

"Mama?" Selim asked before Edward could speak again.

"Yes Selim?" She replied.

"What's alchemy?" He asked her feeling like he needed to know what it was.

"That might be a good question for Edward or Alphonse here." Mrs Bradley replied.

Selim turned to Edward.

"What's alchemy?" He asked.

"Well...I'm not sure at your age you'll understand..." Edward started.

"Go on Ed. You can explain it easily." Alphonse encouraged.

"I know that, Al, but we're talking to a two year old here." Edward replied.

Edward looked down at Selim's eager expression, though Selim wasn't the homunculus Pride anymore, Ed still felt slightly cautious about it all. Alphonse usually understood and they both had come to the conclusion that Selim seemed to have become a normal human being, now that the sin was defeated, and as far as they knew Mrs Bradley hadn't said anything about him using weird shadows or sneaking off or anything, so Ed simply tried to see Selim as a normal child, despite how he looked and sounded like the old Selim and how the other Selim had been so good at pretending to be a normal human...

"Alchemy is a science, kid." Edward explained. "It's a science that works about matter, breaking it down, and rebuilding and changing it. You have to have an equal amount of what you want to change, and you can only change things that relate to each other in some way to make something new. You can't turn flowers into rocks, is kind of what I mean, here. The whole thing is also controlled by what we call the law of equivalent exchange. You can't make something out of nothing, you have to have enough of something to create something else." Edward explained. "I'll give you a small demonstration before we go."

"Mama! Is he going to show us alchemy?" Selim asked in excitement.

"Yes, I think so." Mrs Bradley answered, smiling happily.

"Okay," Edward started, pulling out a piece of chalk from his pocket. "Most Alchemists use things called, transmutation circles, I'm going to show you one now." Edward said as he began to draw a circle with chalk on the ground. "Alright, now, I need something soft, like fabric or something." Ed told them.

Selim pointed to his sock.

"I can only make things of equal value. So if I use your sock to make, say a blanket, it would end up being a pretty pathetic little blanket." Edward said with a small laugh. "Because the material of your sock, wouldn't be enough, it wouldn't be equal to what I have in mind to make." Edward explained.

Selim nodded slowly.

"I wonder how much of this he understands." Alphonse pondered quietly.

Selim started to look around for something he could get Edward to use alchemy on, when Mrs Bradley excused herself for a moment asking Ed and Al to wait with Selim.

After a few moments Mrs Bradley returned and handed Selim an old brown blanket. It was super soft, but it was full of holes and Mrs Bradley had been planning to throw it out soon, but she figure this was a much nicer way to use it.

"Okay Selim," Edward started. "Put that old blanket into the transmutation circle and then I'll show you some Alchemy!"

Selim smiled excitedly and walked towards the circle until he was standing beside the Fullmetal Alchemist.

"Good, now put it into the transmutation circle I drew right there, whenever you're ready." Edward instructed.

Selim smiled and tossed the blanket into the circle, and quickly adjusted it to make sure it wasn't sticking out of the lines making up the circle.

"So, like I said earlier, some alchemists use circles, most of them, but it is possible to do it without a circle." Edward said.

"Some people." Alphonse added. "Like my brother."

"Yeah, Yeah, but lets not get too much into that stuff, because I don't think he's gonna understand The Gate and all that. Plus we don't want to scare him." Edward replied.

Then he turned back to Selim.

"But yeah, I don't technically need a circle to do it, but I'm gonna show it to you this way." Edward said, getting ready to clap his hands together.

"Yay! Awesome!" Selim cheered.

"Hey Ed, you should make him a..." Alphonse whispered in Edward's ear.

"Yeah, I know Al. I heard what he was telling you too." Edward replied quietly, smiling at his brother and then at Selim.

Edward clapped his hands together and then placed them on the edge of the transmutation circle. With a surge of light, the brown blanket changed and took a smaller form of a toy bird. A lot like the one Selim had helped that day.

"Wow!" Selim exclaimed. "That's so cool!"

"Go ahead, pick it up if you want." Edward said cheerfully.

Selim glanced at his mother, and Lily Bradley smiled and nodded. Selim rushed over to the circle and picked up the soft toy animal.

"The blanket got smaller to make the toy so that it would have stuffing. That's why even though it looks smaller, it's actually made with the same amount of material that we started with." Alphonse explained, smiling at all the happy faces.

"Equivalent exchange." Edward sighed, his mind going to all that they'd been through for the past many years.

"Thanks so much! It's so cool!" Selim exclaimed. "Can you make more?"he asked enthusiastically.

"Looks like you have a fan, brother." Alphonse said smirking.

"Uh...yeah...but...maybe sometime. Hey Al! I didn't realize how long we've been here we better get going!" Edward said turning to his younger brother.

"You'll be back right?" Selim asked.

"You're welcome to stop by anytime." Lily told them.

"Thank you Mrs Bradley, and we will come visit again sometime." Alphonse Elric replied.

"Thanks Mrs Bradley, hope you two stay well and have a good time. We'll come back to visit eventually, Selim," He glanced at Mrs Bradley with a sheepish smile. "We're parting ways for awhile going for some long trips. We'll meet back up each other after that, then we'll eventually make our way back here." Edward explained.

Lily Bradley smiled.

"Safe travels then you two. And Edward, thanks for everything. Safe trip boys. We'll be here when you come again. I think Selim really loved seeing your alchemy." Lily replied.

"Heh, oh really no need to thank-" Ed started.

"Ready brother?" Alphonse called.

"Coming!" Ed called.

"Bye you two." Edward said.

"Bye guys! See you again sometime!" Alphonse said waving goodbye.

Edward turned to Selim and ruffled the boy's hair.

"You be good okay Selim?" Edward said.

Selim gave a slow nod, but he looked a little sad.

"Bye..." Selim said.

"Hey, chin up, we'll be back before you know it." Edward said smiling happily at the little boy.

"Goodbye!" Selim called as the Elric brothers started away on another long journey.


End file.
